2of2James Harden works on a shooting touch that must improve from his 8-for-28 showing in the opener.Photo: James Nielsen, Staff

With his usual straight face revealing neither concern nor confidence, James Harden made his way around the 3-point arc draining jumpers with his customary ease.

That shooting touch helped him rank fifth in NBA scoring this season as the embodiment of the Rockets' offensive philosophy built on 3s, free throws and layups. It keyed his rise to becoming one of the league's most prolific and reliable closers. It helped set up so much else in his game.

Then the playoffs began, and it betrayed him.

Harden did not just miss his 3-pointers in Game 1 against the Trail Blazers (going 3-of-14), he said he strayed from what he does best in search of his normally dependable shooting touch.

He missed more shots than he ever had in an NBA game, and the Rockets could not replace their most irreplaceable scorer.

"I didn't play well offensively," Harden said. "I felt I was too thirsty and anxious at the same time. I just have to be more precise on my shots and be aggressive. The first half, I didn't really attack and get to the rim like I wanted to."

The Rockets led the NBA in free throws in the regular season, with only Kevin Durant averaging more per game than the 9.1 Harden averaged. (Dwight Howard was third.) But in the first half Sunday, Harden took six of his nine shots from beyond the arc, making only his last one. He and the Rockets did not attempt a free throw.

That changed in the second half and overtime, when Harden was 8-of-10 from the line, and the Rockets - aided by three possessions on which Howard was intentionally fouled - took 40 free throws. But Harden rarely got to the rim as he typically does.

The NBA's most prolific fast-break scorer, especially adept at finishing or drawing fouls with a nearly unstoppable Eurostep, Harden had one fast-break basket all game - a pull-up 3.

"I have to play better," Harden said. "I didn't shoot the ball well. I need to shake it off and be better in Game 2."

His shooting slumps don't last

The Rockets have far greater concerns than Harden's ability to put the ball in the basket. Since an early-season shooting slump, he has given them reason to expect he will bounce back.

Harden has averaged 27.9 points on 49.3 percent shooting and 43 percent 3-point shooting in games after he made less than 40 percent of his shots. He has not had consecutive games making less than 40 percent of his attempts since November.

"That's usually the sign of a good player," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "The sign of a bad player is that they string a bunch of bad games together. … A lot of times, you play better. You go out with better focus, better everything. You're just better."

The Trail Blazers do not assume that stopping Harden once means they will stop him again. Harden averaged 30.3 points on 48.1 percent shooting and 45.5 percent 3-point shooting against Portland in the regular season.

"A guy like that can score," said Wesley Matthews, who spent most of his 42 minutes defending Harden. "He is one of the best in pick-and-rolls. I don't know how much was us and how much was him. Honestly, I don't really care.

"He shot 28 of them. I'm just happy he only made eight."

Portland teammates said that defense began with Matthews. The Blazers had to get back defensively en masse. And it helped that they hit the offensive boards hard enough to choke off much of the Rockets' fast-break offense. Still, Matthews made everything difficult.

"I loved it," guard Damian Lillard said. "It was vintage Wes. In practice, you see Wes competing how he did (Sunday) night. We aren't going to stop James Harden, but we can make it as hard as possible, and I thought Wes did a great job with that."

Just do what he does best

Harden often has said he has seen every sort of defense against him this season. As well as Matthews played, the Blazers did not use any sort of unusual schemes against Harden and did not need to.

Still, Rockets coaches made a point to go over video in regard to shot selection and decision-making.

"Our offense is pretty free and pretty open," forward Chandler Parsons said. "You have a lot of different reads and options you can do. You don't want to settle for long jump shots. With (Harden), he just has to stay aggressive. He has to do what he's been doing all year long, get to the foul line, get out in transition, and get some easy ones to go down first. And then the whole game opens up."

Asked if Harden needs to do anything differently, as opposed to just having the ball go in more regularly, McHale had no interest in getting into specifics. Harden, he said, will bounce back.

Jonathan Feigen has been the Rockets beat writer since 1998 and a basketball nut since before Willis Reed limped out for Game 7. He became a sports writer because the reporter that was supposed to cover the University of Delaware basketball team decided to instead play one more season of college lacrosse and has never looked back.

Feigen, who has won APSE, APME and United States Basketball Writers Association awards from El Campo to Houston, came to Texas in 1981 to cover the Rice Birds, was Sports Editor in Garland before moving to Dallas to cover everything from the final hurrah of the Southwest Conference to SMU after the death penalty.

After joining the Houston Chronicle in 1990, Feigen has covered the demise of the SWC, the rise of the Big 12 and the Rockets at their championship best.